Charlton Spotlight

Starting off with a long profile of a Charlton institution, writer Joe Gill this issue continues Charlton Spotlight’s detailed exploration of one of comics history’s major “minor” publishers. According to a note from Editor Michael Ambrose, Gill wrote an estimated 52,000-plus pages of Charlton comics most of them uncredited stories in the company’s anthology titles or its licensed properties, from Konga to The Flintstones.

Mark Burbey chronicles the creation of Charlton’s most successful super-hero, Captain Atom, by Gill and frequent collaborator Steve Ditko. Other features spotlight the Blue Beetle’s Charlton runs, a look at text stories by Ramon Schenk, and a salute to the late Jim Aparo by Steve Skeates.

Skeates also provides a fascinating, intricately detailed, behind-the-scenes exposé of his collaboration with Ditko on the story “The Ultimate Evil,” from The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #12. The Charlton Comics Checklist continues, and there’s a reprint of a 1958 science-fiction story from Space Adventures #25, with art by Ditko and story (probably) by Gill. Ambrose continues to perform an invaluable service by keeping Charlton alive through this thoughtfully written, nicely packaged publication.

—Timothy J. Wood

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